


Respite

by TheDragonsLittleBird



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Angst, Fluff and Angst, Implied/Referenced Torture, M/M, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-29
Updated: 2017-11-29
Packaged: 2019-02-08 11:35:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,033
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12863652
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheDragonsLittleBird/pseuds/TheDragonsLittleBird
Summary: Akira isn't alright, but he will be.





	Respite

**Author's Note:**

> So, I didn't know whether or not to post this, but decided to do so anyway cause my account is barren and I never contribute anything to pairings besides screaming, so here you go.
> 
> I wanted to write this because I don't like how the game brushes off Akira's torture and plays it off as if it's all okay, as if a 16 year old boy wouldn't be traumatized after being beaten and drugged. Also, his friends look too okay with it as well. So I wrote this to try and fix it. It probably sucks, but I did try, so I hope you like it :p

Akira tries to play it cool.

He pretends everything is okay, that his wrists and face and ribs aren’t hurting, that they just threw him around a little bit to scare him, as his friends surround him and drown him in assurance and praise.

He doesn’t manage to fool them. His friends clearly notice he’s faking it, though they try to play along, forced smiles and slightly shaky voices.

Yusuke can barely disguise his anger. Akira doesn’t think he’s ever seen him this furious. Even with Madarame, his anger was more burning hot, explosive, indignant at the lies and manipulation by the hands of one he considered his father.

Yusuke’s eyes look nothing like that now.

They’re hard, unspoken cold anger showing through. It’s an expression Akira never thought he’d ever associate with Yusuke, always so calm, gentle, soft-spoken.

He can clearly see what they did to Akira in that interrogation, and he looks like he’d easily kill them without a second thought if he ever got his hands on them.

It scares Akira.

Still, like the others, Yusuke tries to play along.

It’s only when the others reluctantly leave (surely about to question him in Mementos tomorrow about just what had been done to him in that room) that Yusuke, refusing to leave and insisting to stay for the night, drops the fake smile and stares at Akira, his eyes just as hard and cold as before, though now with a hint of sadness in them as well.

Akira swallows hardly and clears his throat.

“I need to lie down for a bit.”

He doesn’t ask Yusuke to follow him upstairs because he fully expects him to. He also doesn’t bother to do more than take off his blazer and shoes with an almost unnatural stillness to him that is never there, before falling onto the bed and curling up into fetal position facing the wall. Morgana wastes no time in wordlessly curling up against his bruised abdomen, an unspoken apology made into physical comfort.

He feels the mattress dip as Yusuke too settles down beside him, gently takes off his glasses and embraces him from behind, probably his first time being the one to comfort the other. He takes immense care not to hug Akira too tightly, fully aware of the wounds and bruises the shorter boy went to a great length to try and hide – his friends all knew of their existence from the moment they laid eyes on him, though.

Yusuke tucks the boy’s head under his chin.

“Do you wanna take a shower?” he asks.

Akira should, really – his state is deplorable – but he finds he has no physical or emotional strength left at the moment to do anything more than slightly move his arms and tightly squeeze his boyfriend’s left arm, holding his hand and interlacing his fingers with his.

They stay in silence for a moment, until Yusuke manages to say, softly, voice slightly shaking with anger:

“What did they do to you, Akira?”

Akira unconsciously holds his breath, a barrage of images and recent memories of physical and emotional torture flashing rapidly through his mind, and he shivers. Yusuke holds him tighter at the response, but doesn’t say anything.

He feels Yusuke’s chest rise and fall faster against his back as the boy breathes harder in rage, and notices far too late the tears that have already started to spill roll down his face and onto the pillow. Before he can stop himself, he turns around in the taller boy’s arms and locks eyes with him, trying to convey through a look everything he can’t make himself say – what they did to him, how it made him feel, how much it means that Yusuke is here with him, how much Yusuke means to him.

Yusuke’s eyes are wet with tears, too. Behind the terrifying, uncharacteristic icy wrath Akira can see in them, there is heartwrenching sadness and undbridled love.

At any other time, Akira would feel deeply thankful for this boy, but right now, all he can do is bury his face in Yusuke’s chest and break down into sobs, crying his lungs out.

Morgana moves a little closer against his back and Yusuke holds Akira tighter, curling himself around the smaller boy and burying fingers and face into messy black hair, kissing the top of his head, body shaking in anger and hurt as his boyfriend cries into his shirt. He lightly rubs his fingers against the boy’s head, trying to be of some comfort.

“I’m sorry,” he says, his voice faltering, “I’m so sorry. The one time you needed me there, I...”

“Don’t, please,” Akira cuts him off, voice so broken and meek he surprises himself. It’s so unlike what he’s used to hearing when he speaks, and he swears he sees Yusuke’s heart break a little more through his tears.

“If I had been there-”

“Please, Yusuke.”

The artist doesn’t protest at Akira’s teary plea, and lets out a shaky sigh as he buries his head into his shoulder.

“I’m never letting anyone hurt you like that again,” he says, voice wavering but burning with anger and determination, “I’d rather die.”

Akira falls in love with him all over again.

He gently pulls him down by the collar for a soft, but desperate, kiss, and lets out a small breath he didn’t know he was holding when Yusuke’s lips softly caress his bruised own with the lightness of a feather.

“Please stay” Akira finds himself asking once they pull away, in that same meek voice that doesn’t sound like his, and Yusuke lightly kisses his forehead in response.

“Always,” he replies, and Akira starts crying all over again.

The tears eventually dry out and he falls into a restless sleep in the comfort of Yusuke’s embrace.

Still, the artist is there to wake him from the nightmares.

He wakes up in the morning in his boyfriend’s arms, feeling safe for once in a long time. He’s not okay, not yet, but he will be, because Yusuke is there for him, and so is Morgana, and all his friends.

Yusuke doesn’t leave his side for the rest of the week.

Akira is glad.

**Author's Note:**

> If you liked it, please leave a comment! It motivates us to keep writing! :)


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